This application claims Paris Convention priority of DE 102 27 876.8 filed Jun. 22, 2002 the complete disclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference.
The invention concerns a magnet assembly with an actively shielded superconducting magnet coil system and at least one current path which is superconductingly closed in the operating state, wherein the actively shielded superconducting magnet coil system comprises a radially inner and a radially outer partial coil system which are disposed coaxially to each other and whose magnetic dipole moments have opposite signs in the operating state and differ by an amount xcex94m with |xcex94m| less than 2.5% of the magnetic dipole moment magnitude of the radially inner partial coil system.
A magnet assembly of this type comprising an actively shielded magnet coil system and at least one additional superconductingly closed current path is disclosed in the patent document U.S. Pat. No. 6,265,960. In this magnet assembly, an additional, superconductingly closed current path acts as a superconducting shim device to improve the field homogeneity in the working volume of the magnet assembly.
Patent document WO 00/52490 discloses a further magnet assembly comprising an actively shielded magnet coil system and at least one additional superconductingly closed current path. This magnet assembly comprises an additional superconductingly closed current path for compensating external electromagnetic disturbances, for compensating a field drift caused by the magnet coil system itself, or for fine adjustment of the magnetic field strength in the working volume.
Superconducting magnets have various fields of application which include high-field applications, e.g. for magnetic resonance methods. Such high-field magnets also typically generate a large fringe field that can represent a danger for the surroundings of the magnet. This problem can be solved when the magnet comprises an active shielding, i.e. an additional superconducting coil that is connected in series with the main coil of the magnet and generates a field of opposite polarity.
In particular for magnets with highly efficient fringe field shielding, deviations in the design specifications of the magnet coils may cause such considerable changes in the fringe field generated by the magnet assembly that the required fringe field specifications are not met. Small deviations from the design specifications due to production tolerances are unavoidable. For example, the wire diameters may have tolerances of up to one percent. Such small deviations can dramatically deteriorate the fringe field values since large field contributions with different signs are mutually superposed to compensate the fringe field outside of the magnet assembly. At a location where a fringe field of 0.5 mT should result, the mutually compensating amounts of main coil and fringe field shielding are e.g. in an order of magnitude of 100 mT. A deviation of one of these two field contributions from its desired value by approximately 1% caused by the production inaccuracies in the coil system therefore produces a deviation of the fringe field strength from the desired value of approximately 1 mT at the location of the 0.5 mT contour surface. The required fringe field limit at this location could thereby be exceeded; in this case by multiple factors.
It is the underlying purpose of the present invention to improve a conventional magnet assembly such that its fringe field boundary values are maintained even when individual parameters of the coil arrangement differ from the desired values in consequence of production inaccuracies. In particular, fringe field effects from deviations in the winding data from their desired values and due to geometrical deviations in the coil formers carrying the individual coil systems from their desired geometry, shall be compensated for.
This object is achieved in accordance with the invention in that one or more additional current paths can be inductively charged during charging of the actively shielded magnet coil system. Towards this end, these current paths are already superconductingly closed when the actively shielded magnet coil system is charged. The additional current paths are designed such that that the current induced in them during charging of the actively shielded magnet coil system depends on the deviation of the design parameters of the magnet coil system (e.g. wire winding numbers and coil geometry) from their desired values. The inventive inductively charged current paths must also have a sufficiently large area enclosed by their windings so that the induced current can produce a fringe field contribution, in particular a magnetic dipole moment, of sufficient magnitude. Under these conditions, production tolerance related deviations in the magnetic dipole moment of the actively shielded magnet coil system from its desired value can be at least partly compensated for in the operating state of the configuration by the dipole moment of the current induced in the additional superconductingly short-circuited current paths.
The inventive configuration is advantageous in that even for superconducting magnet systems with excellent active shielding whose fringe field reacts excessively to deviations in the design parameters of the magnet coil arrangement from their desired values, the theoretically feasible fringe field limits can be met without having to take expensive and demanding measures to prevent production deviations from the design specifications. This reduces production costs since no additional measures are required during the production process to exactly meet the winding data according to the design specifications and the wires and coil formers do not have to meet particularly narrow tolerances. The inventive configuration is particularly advantageous since deviations in various design parameters of the actively shielded magnet coil system from their desired values do not cause the fringe field limiting value to be exceeded, without having to calculate and construct a special configuration for each individual parameter. In particular, the inventive magnet assembly can be installed without any special procedure, to prevent the configuration to exceed its fringe field limiting values due to production inaccuracies in the magnet assembly.
In one particularly preferred embodiment of the inventive magnet assembly, at least one of the additional superconductingly short-circuited current paths has a non-zero inductive coupling to the radially inner partial coil system and at least one of the additional superconductingly short-circuited current paths has a non-zero inductive coupling to the radially outer partial coil system of the actively shielded superconducting magnet coil system. Without this condition, a deviation in the design parameters of the partial coil systems from their desired values could remain unnoticed by the additional superconductingly short-circuited current paths and the fringe field change due to such a deviation in the design parameters of the partial coil systems from their desired values would remain uncompensated for.
In a particularly preferred embodiment of the inventive magnet assembly, at least one of the additional superconductingly short-circuited current paths is, in total, inductively decoupled from the magnet coil system when the design specifications are met. This is preferably achieved in that, for each of these current paths, the non-vanishing inductive coupling to the radially inner partial coil system is substantially opposite and equal to the inductive coupling to the radially outer partial coil system. This is advantageous in that no current is induced in the additional current paths when the system corresponds exactly to its design specifications. Production deviation of a design parameter from its desired value in one of the two partial coil systems results in an inductive coupling between the magnet coil system and these current paths. The current induced in these current paths during charging of the magnet coil system generates a magnetic field, which compensates for the deviation of the magnetic flux of the magnet assembly from the design value. This condition is required to ensure that the production deviation of the fringe field of the magnet assembly from its desired value is also compensated for.
In a particularly advantageous inventive magnet assembly, the magnetic dipole moments of the partial coil systems of the actively shielded magnet coil system differ by less than 1% of the magnetic dipole moment of the radially inner partial coil system. In this case, the production tolerance related deviations in the dipole moments of the two partial coil systems of the actively shielded magnet coil system are particularly large relative to the overall dipole moment of the magnet coil system. This produces large deviations in the overall dipole moment of the magnet coil system from its theoretical value even for small deviations in the design parameters of the partial coil systems from their desired values. It is therefore advantageous, in particular for such actively shielded magnet coil systems, to provide an inventive device in the form of additional superconductingly short-circuited current paths for compensating deviations in the fringe field of the magnet coil system from its desired value.
One embodiment of the inventive magnet assembly is also particularly advantageous with which the magnet assembly is part of an apparatus for high-resolution magnetic resonance spectroscopy. The radially inner partial coil system of such magnet assemblies generally has a very large dipole moment due to the high field strengths required for such apparatus, and therefore the use of actively shielded magnet systems is particularly advantageous. The inventive configuration ensures that production deviations in the magnet coil system from its design specifications do not result in excessive fringe fields as would be particularly undesirable in this case due to the usual large dipole moments.
In one advantageous embodiment of the inventive magnet assembly, at least one of the additional superconductingly short-circuited current paths comprises a device for limiting the current induced therein. This prevents excessive current from being induced in the additional current path during charging of the actively shielded magnet coil system, which could damage the current path.
In one particularly preferred embodiment of the inventive magnet assembly, a superconducting switch is integrated in at least one of the additional superconductingly closed current paths and the magnet assembly comprises a device for feeding current to this current path. This permits fine adjustment of the fringe field generated by the overall magnet assembly through proper adjustment of the current in this additional current path. Particularly for special applications and locations, fringe field geometries can be obtained for an inventive magnet assembly, which differ from the design specifications without requiring additional means.
In a further advantageous embodiment of the inventive magnet assembly, at least one of the additional superconductingly short-circuited current paths is part of a device that provides the magnet assembly with additional functionality. In particular, that current path serves for compensating external magnetic field fluctuations. This embodiment is advantageous since this double functionality makes the overall magnet assembly more compact.
In a further particularly preferred embodiment of the inventive magnet assembly, at least one of the additional superconductingly short-circuited current paths is thermally decoupled from the actively shielded magnet coil system. In the event of a quench in the magnet coil system, the amount of heat transferred to this additional current path is sufficiently small that a quench in the additional current path is not triggered, at least during the initial phase of the quench. This is important since the current induced in the additional, still superconducting, current path due to the change in the magnetic flux during the initial phase of the quench of the magnet coil system, is needed in order to keep the fringe field of the magnet assembly small during the quench.
In one particularly preferred embodiment of the inventive magnet assembly, at least one of the additional superconductingly closed current paths has magnet coils of a radius, which is at least 90% of the radius of the outermost coils of the actively shielded superconducting magnet coil system. Since this current path surrounds a large surface, it generates a considerable magnetic dipole moment without requiring a large current. This is advantageous since the maximum current that flows in this current path can be easily kept below the critical current above which superconductivity would break down.
One further advantageous embodiment of the inventive magnet assembly is characterized in that at least one of the additional superconductingly closed current paths comprises coils which are wound on a coil former which also carries coils of the outer partial coil system of the actively shielded superconducting magnet coil system. This additional current path thereby surrounds a large surface and therefore requires only a small amount of current to generate a magnetic dipole moment that has sufficient influence on the fringe field. The magnet assembly is less expensive to produce since no additional coil former is required for the additional current path.
In one further advantageous embodiment of the inventive magnet assembly, at least one of the additional superconductingly closed current paths generates an asymmetrical magnetic field in the operating state relative to a plane perpendicular to the z axis and intersecting same at z=0. This embodiment permits correction of deviations in the fringe field of the magnet assembly from its desired behavior, which are asymmetrical relative to this plane. Fringe field distortions of this type can be caused e.g. by superconducting shim coils in the magnet assembly if the shim coils produce a field contribution which can be expanded along the z-axis about z=0 in a polynomial in z with odd coefficients Hn.
Further advantages of the invention can be extracted from the description and the drawing. The features mentioned above and below may be used in accordance with the invention either individually or collectively in arbitrary combination. The embodiments shown and described are not to be understood as exhaustive enumeration, but rather have exemplary character for describing the invention.